Techs, Nasdaq end on furious rally
Index reverses losses; closes up 8.7 points
By Rex Crum, CBS.MarketWatch.com
Last Update: 4:34 PM ET July 15, 2002
NEW YORK (CBS.MW) -- Technology shares staged a massive comeback in the last hour of trading Monday, leading the Nasdaq Composite to close in positive territory.
The Nasdaq ($COMPQ: news, chart, profile) ended the day up 8.7 points, or nearly 1 percent, to close at 1,382.20. It was a remarkable turnaround for the index, which at one point fell to 1,315.30 after President Bush's comments on the economy.
Speaking in Birmingham, Ala., Bush said even though the nation's economic fundamentals are solid, the country needs to recover from a "hangover" that resulted from the 1990s "economic binge." See full story.
Rebounds everywhere
Software stocks, which were among the biggest losers throughout the day, largely closed up, as Siebel Systems (SEBL: news, chart, profile) rose 2.1 percent to finish at $11.77, and PeopleSoft (PSFT: news, chart, profile) climbed just above breakeven to finish at $14.75. Both companies were down earlier after Salomon Smith Barney downgraded the shares.
Salomon analyst Heather Bellini said both companies were facing pressures from a weak European market, and there were signs the software leaders were taking longer to close deals in their second quarters than in their first quarters.
Both companies report second-quarter results this week.
Other software gainers included: SAP (SAP: news, chart, profile), which rsoe 0.2 percent to finish at $19.01; Oracle (ORCL: news, chart, profile), up 4 percent to close at $10.07; Adobe Systems, which rose nearly 4 percent to finish at $26.49, and BEA Systems, which gained 9.2 percent to close at $8.06.
Microsoft (MSFT: news, chart, profile) fell just under breakeven to close at $51.80 and Network Associates (NET: news, chart, profile), lost nearly 9 percent to end the day at $12.75.
In the hardware sector, Sun Microsystems (SUNW: news, chart, profile) rose 8 percent to close at $5.69; IBM (IBM: news, chart, profile) gained 2.6 percent to finish at $71; EMC (EMC: news, chart, profile) rose more than 6 percent to hit $9.10; Dell Computer (DELL: news, chart, profile) gained 1.6 percent to close at $25.44, and Apple Computer (AAPL: news, chart, profile) rose 4.2 percent to close at $18.23 ahead of its third-quarter earnings on Tuesday, and the MacWorld New York expo which starts on Wednesday.
Hewlett-Packard (HPQ: news, chart, profile) lost almost 2 percent to fall to $15.
Networkers, which were largely in the red through most of the day, staged a massive comeback, as Tellabs (TLAB: news, chart, profile) led the way with a 15 percent gain to hit $7.62.
Lucent Technologies (LU: news, chart, profile) turned away from earlier losses and rose 5.1 percent to close at $2.69. JDS Uniphase (JDSU: news, chart, profile) rose 7.6 percent to close at $3.82; Juniper Networks (JNPR: news, chart, profile) gained nearly 5 percent to close at $8.06; Ciena (CIEN: news, chart, profile) rose 9.2 percent and finished at $6.07, and Cisco Systems (CSCO: news, chart, profile) rose 0.4 percent to close at $14.44.
Nortel Networks (NT: news, chart, profile) was one of the networking sector's few losers, shedding 4.1 percent to close at $1.39.
The semiconductor group was mixed through most of the day following a report from Merrill Lynch analyst Joe Osha, who said that such factors as price-to-earnings and price-to-book ratios were still too ambiguous to suggest chip stocks are currently worth an investment.
"We don't believe that valuations are yet compensating investors for the ongoing lack of visibility into a recovery," Osha said. "We'll need to see a truly robust recovery in order to find upside to our numbers."
However, during the last hour of trading, chip stocks suddenly were in vogue. Among the sector's biggest gainers were Rambus (RMBS: news, chart, profile), up 10.3 percent to close at $5.57; Vitesse Semiconductor (VTSS: news, chart, profile), which gained 18 percent to finish the day at $3.22; TriQuint Semiconductor (TQNT: news, chart, profile), up 10 percent at $3.22, and PMC-Sierra (PMCS: news, chart, profile), which gained 11 percent to close at $10.39.
Merrill Lynch's Osha had some harsh comments for semiconductor leader Intel (INTC: news, chart, profile), saying that the company "is facing real questions about its ability to sustain the revenue and earnings growth that it has enjoyed in the past."
Other semiconductor stocks that closed up included Micron Technology (MU: news, chart, profile), up 4.5 percent at $24.45, and Advanced Micro Devices (AMD: news, chart, profile), which rose 1.6 percent to finish at $9.25.
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Rex Crum is a reporter for CBS.MarketWatch.com in San Francisco. |
